“I did, my lord,” I said. “I spent three days in the district, mainly on the Tiger River.”
“About the level of Fishdam?”
“Yes, my lord, and a little farther north—as far as Brandon’s Camp.”
“Then just take that map—give it him, Haldane—and describe for us the nature of the country west of Fishdam Ford. It’s high ground, isn’t it? A sort of spine? Sumter is lying in that neighborhood, as you probably know. If you don’t, it is the fact, and we propose, all being well, to surprise him to-night.”
“To-morrow night, by your leave, my lord,” some one interjected.
“To-night,” Rawdon replied dryly and with emphasis; and he withered the interrupter with a look. “That is a detail,” he continued, “which I confess I have kept from you, gentlemen,—with the exception of the Brigadier and Major Wemyss—until this moment. A mounted force of the 63rd has gone forward, and should be already beyond Mobley Meeting House. Major Wemyss who is to command them rides express from here within the hour. The attack will be made to-night, or in the small hours of the morning, but it entirely depends for its success on surprise. Our numbers are not large and General Sumter is in some strength, with reinforcements not far off—Triggs, Clarke, and their irregulars. If he has warning he may turn the tables on us. That being so, gentlemen, and because so many of our plans have been disclosed of late—God knows how!—I have advanced the time of the attack to to-night.”
There was a general murmur of assent and approval.
“Now, Major Craven,” my lord continued, “will you detail for us the nature of the country as you remember it, and as precisely as you can. We have other information, of course, but I wish to see if it tallies with yours. Your return to-day is a piece of good fortune.”
I explained with the map before me the main features, as I remembered them. My former journey had been made at some risk just before Gates’s advance to Camden and with a view to an advance on our side. What I detailed seemed to confirm the information already in our possession as well as the report of Sumter’s position. Wemyss, who was naturally the most deeply concerned, and who followed my explanation with great care on another map, put a number of questions to me; and in this he was seconded by Webster. When I had answered these questions to the best of my power, Wemyss addressed the man on my right—the same who had risen and sat down again.
I should explain that Webster, the Brigadier, was on my left hand, sitting at the end of the table. I could apprehend by this time who were there. There were seven altogether, five soldiers and two civilians.